The five companies are from the bakery chain Kronenbrot, which was founded more than 100 years ago. They operate several large-scale bakeries in Western Germany that are reknown for their oven-fresh and award-winning breads and baked goods in North Rhine-Westphalia and neighbouring states and countries. Kronenbrot GmbH is the largest supplier of bakery products in North Rhine-Westphalia with around 1,000 employees at production sites in Würselen, Cologne and Witten. It supplies about 3,000 businesses and bulk consumers in North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Belgium, the Netherlands and France. It is one of the five largest baked goods manufacturers in Germany.